Yūko Mochizuki

Yūko Mochizuki (望月優子, Mochizuki Yūko, 28 January 1917 – 1 December 1977), also billed as Mieko Mochizuki, was a Japanese stage and film actress who appeared in films of directors such as Keisuke Kinoshita, Mikio Naruse and Tadashi Imai. Mochizuki left the Tokyo Municipal Oshioka Girls' High School prematurely in 1930 and gave her stage debut the same year with Ken'ichi Enomoto's Casino Folies in Asakusa. She continued with engagements such as the Shinjuku Moulin Rouge and the Shinsei Shinpa, first with light comedies, later with dramatic roles, before signing with the Shochiku film studio in 1950. Her first major role was in Kinoshita's 1953 A Japanese Tragedy. Other notable appearances include Naruse's Late Chrysanthemums, Imai's The Rice People and Satsuo Yamamoto's Ballad of the Cart. She also had small roles in two films by Yasujirō Ozu, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice and The End of Summer – the latter came into being because she wanted another role in an Ozu film. In 1960, Mochizuki directed the children's short film 海を渡る友情 (Umiwowataru yūjō, lit. "Friendship across the sea") for the Toei Educational Film Department. In addition to her stage and film work, she also appeared on television.In 1971 and 1977, Mochizuki ran for the House of Councilors election for the Japan Socialist Party. She died of breast cancer in 1977.